Pythagoras
Pythagoras is one of the undisputed greatest mathematicians, but he wrote nothing. It is difficult to determine how much of the document we know as Pythagorean was written by the founder and how much was later implemented documentation. In fact, it is possible that what we do know about this man is not trustworthy, for people have created legends about the great thinker. But what we do think we know, is he lived from about 580-520 BC... at least according to most documentation that has been posted.
Pythagoras claimed there were three types of men in the world, comparing them to the men who came to the Olympics. The first type of man, the lowest of all, is the man that came to buy and sell, the next level up are those who came to compete, and the highest are those who came simply to watch. The three levels are in comparative to lovers of gain, lovers of honor, and lovers of wisdom. It is from theology like this that Pythagoras became famous. Pythagoras was a deep thinker his entire life from childhood where he was known to question everything and everyone, this thirst for knowledge is refreshing today. It shows that to aspire to legendary heights, you need to know all you can about your passion, Pythagoras' passions were math and philosophy.
The mathimatician:
Pythagoras is best known for the Pythagorean Theorem in which to find the length of the slanted line of any generic right triangle squared you simply add the other two dimensions (base and height) squared, this equals the third dimension squared. It is better known as a^2+b^2=c^2. Also the documentation of Pythagoras made many mathimatical advances though it is lesser known then the Theorem.
The myth:
So many people idolized this man and made up such great and fanciful tales about him he became a legend in his own time. His face was put on stamps, busts made of him, pictures painted of him for dozens of books, and his image was even put on a Greek coin. Pythagoras stood on the shoulders of the giants of math and accomplished all that he could in his lifetime, yet it all led to him and his deciples being exiled and fleeing to another land where he died.
None of this information is proven, nothing is about this man. But to the best of modern knowledge, this is his life.
Pythagoras on a Greek coin
Pythagoras in a letter stamp, several paintings, and a statue
Information gotten from The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosphy- Pythagoris and http://history.hanover.edu/texts/presoc/pythagor.htm
Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem at www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/3740/
Award winning proof in Java at http://sunsite.ubc.ca/LivingMathematics/V001N01/UBCExamples/Pythagoras/pythagoras.html